If the Puerto Rico government is to stop the rise in COVID-19 cases, it needs to start facilitating vaccination in communities and promoting the use of masks, two health workers agreed.
General practitioner and epidemiologist Alberto Rosario and epidemiologist Cruz María Nazario said people should not wait for people to get to vaccination centers on their own, which are mostly located in urban areas. On the contrary, the process should be brought closer, especially to the elderly.
“They (Department of Health) have some places where they do the vaccination. Sharp. But we are in a moment where what you have to do is go out into the community. Seniors in their 70s and 80s won’t go to the shopping center get vaccinated,” Rosario said.
“They have to go out to the community, to the community center, to the basketball court, announce it through a rolling promotion, not just on Twitter and Facebook. Who doesn’t have a cell phone or who can’t read, how will they find out?” added the doctor.
Currently, according to statistics provided by Salud, only 33.64% of the population of Puerto Rico has up-to-date Covid-19 vaccines. Within the vaccine-eligible population, the figure is 34.92 percent.
As of December 7, there were 1,074,349 people with their up-to-date vaccinations, 1,750,541 people with no up-to-date vaccinations, and 368,804 people who were unvaccinated.
“The Department of Health is promoting that the vaccine is the only mechanism to protect us. If this really were the best strategy, I think the Department of Health would do mass vaccinations at the level of reaching people’s homes,” said Nazario, a professor in the Graduate School of Public Health on the Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico. .
According to Department of Health standards, a person 50 years of age or older is considered up to date with the vaccination if the second booster was given four months after the first. Individuals between the ages of 5 and 49 must have received their booster within 5 months of completing their primary series.
The elderly left behind
People over the age of 50 are the most backward in this matter and those who continue to show higher mortality rates from this disease.
“Here is evidence that what the government is promoting as the best alternative to protect us is failing so grossly that I would say it is criminal negligence,” Nazario said.
This, the health worker stressed, means that this group of the population is the one who dies the most from Covid-19 on the island.
According to the Bioportal de Salud, 93% of deaths are concentrated in people aged 50 and over. Among those over 80 alone, 2,153 deaths were reported.
“The only thing we old people have left is to protect ourselves with a mask, because if that old man cannot get to the Colosseum, Plaza Las Américas or the shopping center Because he doesn’t have transportation, he can’t drive or he doesn’t have someone to drive him, we won’t get there,” said the epidemiologist.
“And this is what I criticize a lot, that we are promoting that prevention measures are in the hands of the people, when they should be in the hands of the government. The government should tell us that the only measure that obviously protects us from contagion is wearing a mask,” he insisted.
Finally, the educator urged people to urgently resume wearing masks, even though government authorities do not encourage it.
“We can get on well with life, we can go to parties, go shopping, share with friends, but respecting the rules. If you’re going to move on with your life, keep protecting yourself. Don’t be stupid, don’t be fooled by those who want the old man to die in order to have a Puerto Rico without old people. We are killing the old people,” Nazario said.
Immunization statistics updated as of December 7:
People aged 50 to 59:
5.6 percent of men and 6.7 percent of women
People aged 60 to 69
8.8 percent of men and 10.2 percent of women
People aged 70 to 79
10.6 percent of men and 12.7 percent of women
Persons aged 80 or over
8 percent of men and 11 percent of women
